German MPs probing RI's human rights record
German MPs probing RI's human rights record
JAKARTA (JP): Two members of the German parliament are currently engaged in a fact-finding mission regarding the human rights situation in Indonesia which will include a visit to East Timor.
Volker Neumann of the Social Democratic Party and Reiner Eppelmann of the Christian Democratic Party, who arrived here on Monday, are scheduled to fly to East Timor later today.
Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas, who met with the two parliamentarians yesterday, told reporters that the visit was "routine" and similar to other parliamentary visits.
Emerging from a 90-minute meeting with Alatas at his office, the German delegation, accompanied by German Ambassador Heinrich Seeman, declined to disclose the purpose of their visit to journalists as they were ushered into a waiting car.
However, the Germans' interpreter confirmed that they would be traveling to East Timor today.
The delegates' rigid silence has been taken as adding credence to earlier rumors that their request to make the visit had initially been rejected by Jakarta.
The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation told The Jakarta Post that a meeting between several non-government organizations and the German parliamentarians had been scheduled for yesterday evening.
The delegation will be in East Timor until Saturday. They will proceed to Bali before leaving Indonesia on Sunday.
Earlier yesterday the parliamentarians visited the National Commission on Human Rights to discuss human rights conditions in Indonesia and the functioning of the Commission.
The delegation was met by the Commission's Deputy Chair, Miriam Budiardjo, and the head of the Commission's educational and supervision section, Charles Himawan.
Himawan said Neumann and Eppelmann had commended the Commission's ability to be independent in spite of the fact that it had been established by a Presidential decree.
He said the delegates had expressed amazement at the Commission's operating procedures which, they said, could not be found in other countries, even in democratic ones.
Himawan said the Commission had been invited to address the German parliament on human rights protection in Indonesia and to elaborate on the workings of the rights commission.
Miriam said that during the meeting a number of human rights cases in Indonesia had been discussed, including the murder of labor activist Marsinah and several land disputes.
She said the meeting had not discussed the recent demonstrations against the Indonesian government in Germany during President Soeharto's official visit to that country in April. (imn/mds)